FREEHOLD – Construction has begun on the second of two projects in the Freehold Borough K-8 School District that will address the issue of student overcrowding.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held on Nov. 28 for the expansion of the Freehold Learning Center elementary school, Dutch Lane Road, which educates pupils in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade.
The ceremony at the Freehold Learning Center followed the October groundbreaking at the Park Avenue complex, where construction is underway at the Park Avenue Elementary School (pre-K through 5) and the Freehold Intermediate School (6-8).
The work at the schools is part of a $33 million construction project that was authorized by the New Jersey Commissioner of Education in 2016 to expand the district’s schools.
The Board of Education awarded an $8.4 million contract to Newport Construction, Pennsauken, for the construction project at the Freehold Learning Center.
According to district administrators, there will be three additions made at the Freehold Learning Center, among other work. The additions are:
- A 10,400-square-foot addition will include four pre-kindergarten classrooms and two kindergarten classrooms, each with a self-contained rest room and storage room, an occupational therapy/physical therapy room and a kindergarten resource room;
- An 8,100-square-foot addition will include five kindergarten classrooms, each with a self-contained rest room and storage room, a kindergarten resource room and an electrical room;
- A 1,350-square-foot addition will include a new kitchen with a storage room, a receiving room, an office room, a locker alcove and a rest room to serve the cafeteria.
Superintendent of Schools Rocco Tomazic called the groundbreaking at the Freehold Learning Center “the end of the beginning.”
“This second groundbreaking ceremony marks the end of the planning period for our construction projects,” Tomazic said prior to the ceremony. “From this point on, we will be exclusively engaged in actual construction and look to the day in the near future when we can cut the ribbon and open both facilities for use by our students.”
The construction is intended to address student overcrowding in the district. At present, there are 1,695 pupils enrolled. The three schools have classroom space for about 1,148 students.
As a result, Freehold Borough currently rents nine classrooms (six kindergarten classrooms and three pre-kindergarten classrooms) in the neighboring Freehold Township K-8 School District and one pre-kindergarten classroom at the First Baptist Church of Freehold in the borough.
The construction will increase classroom space to 1,589 students and put less of a strain on classrooms, according to district administrators.
“These young people (pupils) are the reason we are here today,” interim Monmouth County Superintendent Lester Richens said at the groundbreaking ceremony. “They are what this is about.”
Following the defeat of two referendums that proposed the school additions, district administrators followed an appeals process that concluded with the state commissioner of education authorizing the work and directing the state to fund approximately 85 percent of the cost.
“These children can look forward to having a better place here,” state Assemblywoman Joann Downey (D-Monmouth) said. “This is what happens with perseverance, determination and when you work hard for what is right.”
State Assemblyman Eric Houghtaling (D-Monmouth) concurred with Downey and praised the Board of Education, Tomazic and state Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth) for their “perseverance” in having the construction project approved.
“The whole town came together to make this happen,” Houghtaling said.
“This is a culmination of the community rallying around our children,” Beck said. “This is a great moment for our kids.”